Racism
Racism is a really big problem. The Huldran Pact systematically introduced a whole new dimension of racism called the Hierarchies. Slurs Here's some racist slurs Widely used orc slurs: Softskin/softie = non-orcs (or non-trolls) Goldskin = high elves Pinkskin = pale Folk Dinky = dwarf Spawn = Deva Outland orcs: Westmen = humans, usually referring to Axite ones Weaklings = elves, gnomes, and anything traditionally seen as magical Widely used Pact and Pact-influenced slurs: Low elf = non high elf elves Halfling = gnome Godless = colossal (from an old, patently false idea that people in the Colossus worship nothing) Creature = beastkin Tamed one = beastkin who speak Huldran or other "civilized" language Midget = A member of a shorter race Widely used Nordheimr slurs: Frollickers = elves Dancers = elves Prancers = elves Prettypants = elves Smooth crotch/smoothy = elves (dwarves joke that, because elves are androgenous, they must not have genitals) The Hierarchies The Hierarchies are not consistent, and changed depending on the political whims. This is only an amalgamation of the typical hierarchy. TIER ONE: THE EXALTED RACES Altians were the most superior race in Hyperion, always at the top of the pyramid, with ethnically Huldran humans sharing the space. Whether the humans were lower than Altians or on the same level changed with the times, though race relations were mostly positive throughout Pact history. Metallic dragons and their Dragonborn counterparts were considered as equally superior as Altians, yet opposite to them on the contest for the world - they were looked on with awe and romanticized as the great, powerful, exotic final enemy. It's no coincidence that Pax Draconis was the Pact's rival empire. Aasimar (so long as they claimed descent from angels and gods in pantheons that were considered "good") were also in tier one, yet at the bottom, because they were seen as unpredictable in their power. Much like the metallic Dragonborn, their exotic nature was romanticized. TIER TWO: THE MUNDANE RACES These are races who are tolerated and in some cases even liked, so long as they acted in a "civil" manner and knew their place below the "superior" races. Boreal humans routinely topped this tier, followed by their gnomish and then their dwarven counterparts - this order was relatively consistent in most versions of the hierarchies. The pacification of Borea and the eventual integration of Boreal peoples into Huldran society made this classification of them easy for Huldrans to swallow. Li Ming Folk were in this tier or straddled that line during the latter centuries of the Pact, a rare promotion, since for most of its history they were considered a part of the savage third tier - this was likely after Gao the Immortal began to trade with the Huldrans. Oddly enough, Fulvians - a developing ethnicity of Dine'e peoples who appropriated Huldran culture (the proto-Jussum) were admitted into this tier, where the other Dine'e remained in the third tier, an exception to the usual convention that savages who had been civilized were still naturally third-tier races but transformed. ---- The first two tiers are collectively known as "The Civilized", with the remaining considered uncivilized. TIER THREE: THE SAVAGE RACES These are races who are considered too uncivilized to be tolerated, and must be colonized and civilized. Kakamora tended to top this tier because of their place as minor trading partners along the Oyster Coast in the Vermilion colonies, but their ways were still considered strange. The darker-skinned Folk were seen as savages without fail - the exact order would differ, but Negus, Bharat, Dine'e, and Nas were always in this tier. For most of Pact history, Li Ming Folk were also in this tier. Much like with the Boreal hierarchy in the second tier, humans were above gnomes, who were above dwarves. Deva were sometimes seen in this tier, or straddling the line between third tier and fourth tier. They were differentiated from the Aasimar of the first tier by their descent - Djinn, spirits, or the angels and hosts of gods that were considered "evil" by the Pact, and sometimes even tieflings, though more often than not them specifically were relegated to the fourth tier. Beastkin also straddled the line between the third and fourth tier. As a general rule, mammalian and familiar beastkin were higher than reptilian and foreign ones, and more likely to qualify as merely savage. TIER FOUR: THE MONSTROUS RACES This tier was the very bottom, the most inferior races, considered so lesser that they cannot even be civilized. The Huldrans considered them so beneath them that expulsion and death were really the only options with dealing with them, or at least extremely limited forms of slavery between individuals. Chromatic Dragons and their more inferior Dragonborn counterparts were seen as powerful creatures yet of low cunning - their long-dead empires destined to have fallen, and the perfect opposites to metallic dragons in the same way as dark elves were to high elves. Any chromatic dragon found was immediately slain. Tieflings were seen as an inherently evil race, and nobody cared to see any difference between them and literal demons. Multiple times in Pact history, Emperors and Consuls would outright expel all tieflings in the empire to foreign lands. Trolls were the lowest races on the hierarchy, impossible to colonize, bloodthirsty, and destined to destroy the world with their warlike behavior. When broken down, goblins tended to be seen as even more inferior than orcs, though the difference barely mattered - genocide was the only option for either, and almost any time contact was established, that was exactly what they attempted. The only notable exception to this was the containment of all orcs in the Outlands, though this was hardly a preferable option, only sought once enough Vermillion land was occupied by trolls that they had to focus their efforts on containment. ------- The Low Elves Comparison of Fey races had their own, special hierarchy, separate from the main hierarchy. The lower on the list, the less tolerable they were, considered to be successive degeneration of the pure high elves. This separate hierarchy of purity level was important to maintain, because unlike the other races, they reproduce with each other, and could affect the gene pool. Tier One - Pure Breeding within this tier is considered the ideal, keeping the blood pure. Elves not within this tier are called "Low Elves" Altian elves - the most superior of all races, to the other races what gods are to them. Kamarin elves - they rarely show up on the hierarchies due to their low relevancy to the Pact's agenda, and the lack of knowledge about them. When they did, they tended to straddle the line between the top two tiers, seen as either Altians with trivial differences yet still perfect, (and so interracial children are fine), or lesser Altians but only slightly (so they're mostly fine), depending on the view. Interestingly enough, Summerlings - the Kamarin Pixie - appeared more often on hierarchies, and were frequently at the top tier, considered to be beautiful and the pure, original race. This is likely because mating across pixies and elves, while theoretically possible through genetics, was physically impossible without magic, and so not as much of a risk. Tier Two - Sub-pure Breeding within this tier is considered not ideal, though not completely abhorrent, so long as the blood eventually evens out. Canoti elves, pixies, and Chep pixies were on an equal level of purity - keeping them out of the gene pool was optimal, as a lesser degeneration of high elves, but they were seen as as mostly harmless noble savages, capable of being civilized. Tier Three - Impure Breeding within this tier is considered disgusting, and too much race-mixing of this caliber would "ruin" the gene pool and could lead to the end of civilization, and other such replacement conspiracies. Sinali were thought of as primitive savages, incapable of proper thinking and unintelligent. They were seen as a uniquely albino degeneration of wood elves, themselves a degeneration of high elves. Yamito were seen as the most impure elven race, the exact opposite of high elves - equally powerful, yet completely evil, cunning and chaotic where high elves were wise and orderly, inherently destructive where high elves were inherently creative, impossible to trust and always seeking to trick and back stab everyone. To avoid race mixing, any dark elf in the empire was expelled to the Outlands.